James Howlett (Earth-616)
). The man who would come to be known simply as "Logan" was born James Howlett, the second son of Elizabeth Howlett (née Hudson) and John Howlett, Sr., owners of a large estate. However, in his adulthood James came to resemble the appearance of the groundskeeper, Thomas Logan, much more closely than his legal father. It is possible that he is the product of an illicit affair between Elizabeth Howlett and Thomas Logan. As a boy, James was notably frail and was prone to bouts of allergic attacks. He spent most of his early years on the estate grounds and had two playmates that lived on the Howlett estate with him: Rose O'Hara, a red-headed Irish girl who was brought in from town to be a companion to young James, and a boy nicknamed "Dog", the grounds-keeper's son. Thomas Logan was an alcoholic and was extremely abusive to his son. The children were close friends but as they reached young adulthood, the abuse inflicted upon Dog warped his mind. Dog made unwanted advances toward Rose, which James reported to his father. In retaliation Dog killed James' puppy, in turn leading to the expulsion of Thomas Logan and Dog from the estate. Thomas Logan, in a drunken stupor and armed with a shotgun, invaded the Howlett estate with his son and attempted to take Elizabeth Howlett (implied to be his former lover) with him. John, Sr. attempted to stop him and Thomas Logan shot him in the head in cold blood. James had just entered the room when this occurred and for the first time his mutation manifested; his claws extended from the backs of his hands and he attacked the intruders with uncharacteristic ferocity, killing Thomas Logan, and scarring Dog's face with three claw marks. Already an emotionally disturbed woman since the mysterious death of her first son, John Jr. (born around 1885), Elizabeth took her life immediately afterward with a blast from Thomas' gun. Fearing for their safety, Rose fled the estate with James, who appeared to have been deeply traumatized and had somehow repressed or forgotten most of the memories of life back at the estate. Dog falsely reported to the police and James' grandfather that Rose had murdered John Howlett, Sr. and Thomas Logan. Old Man Howlett shunned James and Rose for this, but due to the fact James remained his bloodline, he used his influence in the town to make sure there were no authorities on duty at the train station for the next 10 hours, and granted them some money. With no family left, he took Dog in as his ward. However, Dog was already a burgeoning psychopath and it was too late for his character to evolve down any other path. "Little Smitty" In the years that followed, James and Rose took refuge in a British Columbia mining colony under the guise of being cousins. James also assumed the name of "Logan" in order to hide his identity. As the hard work of mining toughened his body, and his mutant powers developed, he grew to be unusually strong and ferocious. He was immune to the elements and even ran with the wolves in the forest, learning to hunt like an animal. James/"Logan" became a valuable and admirable figure amongst the small community of miners due to his hard work and strong ethics, earning him the respect of his peers, including the foreman Smitty, who became a surrogate father figure to Logan. Logan even gained the nickname "Little Smitty" due to their similar work ethics. During this period, Logan developed strong feelings for Rose, but could not act on them for the sake of their guise as cousins. Smitty, who had been mentoring Logan all these years, had also grown close to Rose, and the two eventually fell in love and became engaged, much to the scorn and surprise of Logan, who later accepted the situation for the sake of Rose's happiness. Meanwhile, his grandfather, Mr. Howlett, was in failing health and asked Dog to find Rose and his grandson so he could make peace with them before he died. Dog agreed. However, Dog (who had become a physically formidable man himself) decided to track them down so he could kill Logan. Dog hunted Logan and Rose down so easily that it seemed he had a preternatural skill for tracking. On the night that Smitty was due to leave the mining town with Rose, Dog finally found and confronted Logan. Dog reminded Logan of his past as James Howlett, and that fateful night back on the estate that had changed all their lives so. The two fought fiercely in the middle of the street and, despite being the physically stronger of the two, Dog was eventually overpowered by the enraged Logan. As Dog lay unconscious, Logan unsheathed his claws for the first time in public (to the shock of everyone watching) and was about to deal the deathblow when Rose leaped in to stop him but was accidentally impaled by his claws. Horrified, Logan held her in his arms as she died. He then fled into the woods where he lived in self-imposed exile with a pack of wolves, presumably for many years. Birthday Suprise Later, regaining his humanity, Logan traveled to another frontier community in the Canadian Rockies. He met a young Blackfoot woman named Silver Fox, with whom he fell in love. The two shared a cabin together and lived happily for a time. Logan had made a new life for himself: hunting and farm chores around the homestead now his daily routine. But, as ever, there were other forces at work in his life. On Logan's birthday, Victor Creed (Sabretooth) murdered Silver Fox, the first of many birthday "surprises" from him to come. Enraged, Logan battled him, only to be defeated. Sabretooth and a mysterious cloaked figure then manipulated a feral, mindless Logan to slaughter the inhabitants of the town, persuading him that "the townspeople are afraid of you--they don't want you around. So they got rid of the one thing keeping you here". Later, employed by The Hudson's Bay Company as a fur trader to the Blackfoot Indians, Logan defeated the demonic snake-worm known as Uncegila, a feat which earned him the Blackfoot warrior name of "Skunk-Bear" (or "Wolverine", a name he took a liking to and would use for the rest of his life). A broad, largely unseen conspiracy thus began to shape Logan, now robbed of his conscience and free will, into the perfect killer. Wherever Logan went, Sabretooth, one of his handlers, was not far behind. World War I Sometime later, Logan joined the Canadian Army, where he was assigned to a special unit known as the Devil's Brigade just before the first World War. Although under the Canadian flag, the Devil's Brigade's orders originated from the same mysterious figure that was responsible for the death of Silver Fox. Logan's commanding officer was a super-humanly strong man known as Silas Burr (who would later become the mercenary Cyber was formerly an agent of the Pinkerton Private Detective Agency, where he abused his position, committing several atrocities, even burning down a schoolhouse full of children once. After being sentenced to death for his crimes, Burr was rescued from the courthouse by Sabretooth and brought to the facility, hired by Frederick Hudson due to his sadistic nature). Burr, under orders, killed Logan's girlfriend Janet. He then fought Logan and after severly beating him, he gouged out one of Logan's eyes, reducing him to his feral, animal-like state and sending him running through the woods once again. Burr and Sabretooth retrieved him, his memory of the event evaporated due to his healing factor and their brainwashing. Later in the war, while fighting in Ypres, Belgium, on April 22, 1915, Logan encountered a being called Lazaer (an anagram of Azrael, the Angel of Death), who was armed with a large broadsword and had been using it to kill soldiers on the same battlefield. They began to fight one another, with Lazaer initially gaining the upper hand. But after being impaled with Lazaer's sword, Logan pulled it from his chest and stabbed it through his surprised opponent. Besting Lazaer in combat sent Logan in to a deep depression, even causing him to put a gun to his own head at one point. He started drinking considerably more as the war dragged on, and ate less and less, until Lazaer finally confronted him. He explained that the depression was a punishment for defeating him and defying the natural order of things. It is also later revealed that because Logan defeated Lazaer, every time he receives an injury serious enough to threaten him, he gets a second chance by battling Lazaer for his life. World War II Years later, Logan met Nick Fury, Captain America, and Black Widow while fighting the Nazis in Madripoor and Europe during World War II. Afterward, he participated as a paratrooper for the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion during the Normandy landings on D-Day, as well as the liberation of the Netherlands. He may have also been a spy for the Allied Forces and that he may have spent time in the Sobibor concentration camp in Poland, where he psychologically tortured three commandants. While at Sobibor, Logan was known as "Prisoner Zero". In 1945 Logan unwittingly participated in another landmark of World War II when he was captured by Japanese soldiers while performing sabotage missions in Japan, where he was sent to a prison camp in Nagasaki. He escaped from his cell along with Lt. Ethan Warren, an American soldier who was also captured, and found refuge and love in a local Japanese girl named Atsuko. Unfortunately, Lt. Warren, himself a mutant, returned and murdered the girl, and the two men fought until both were caught in the atomic blast that destroyed much of the city. Logan survived, but was devastated to lose another woman in his life. After WWII, he traveled to China, where he met a Chinese businessman named Chang, an employee of Landau, Luckman, and Lake (LLL). In Shanghai, Logan meets Ogun, an immortal Japanese samurai and sorcerer. Impressed by Logan’s skill, Ogun offered to instruct him in the martial arts, and even taught him Sun Tzu and ideograms. Wolverine soon developed a deep and lasting love for Japan. After his training with Ogun, Logan traveled to the village of Bando Saburo in order to learn how to be a man. There, he met and fell in love with a local woman named Itsu. They married and conceived a child together. After the demon swordsmith Muramasa created an explosion that caused Logan to accidentally stab a villager with his claws, Logan is banned from the village. Before he left, Logan found Itsu murdered. Unbeknownst to Logan, the mysterious cloaked figure (who accompanied Sabretooth when he murdered Silver Fox) took the child from Itsu's womb. Logan gave himself to Muramasa, thinking the villagers were responsible for the murder of Itsu. Muramasa vows to build a sword capable of killing even Logan himself. Logan is later rescued by the Winter Soldier and taken to Madripoor. CIA and Team X ]]Logan once again fell under the manipulation of the mysterious puppeteer in his life, the callous man who stole Logan's baby from Itsu's womb. Working for the CIA, he helped participate in turning a boy named Frank Simpson into the deranged super-soldier Nuke. Frank, growing up watching his alcoholic mother constantly verbally abuse his meek father, was influenced by his babysitter (another operative of the mysterious manipulator) into killing his mother. Meanwhile, as Frank's father drove the babysitter home, she abruptly pulled out his flask and began to drink it. She then seduced him, and he pulled over into the nearby woods, only to be interrupted by a police officer, who was revealed to be Logan. Logan asked Frank's father to sit back in his seat and shot the babysitter with Frank's gun. He then suggested that Frank's father had taken advantage of the babysitter, plying her with alcohol and even going so far as to shooting her because she resisted. Frank's father realized the gravity of the situation, and seeing no other way, he shot himself. Later, during the Vietnam War, Logan tortured the already unstable soldier, carving stars and stripes into his face all the while screaming "No V.C.". Frank then escaped, fleeing into a local village, hearing several of the villagers shout "No Vee-See!", he thought back to his painful torture. It pushed him over the edge, and he brutally murdered the whole village, just like Logan did in vengeance for Silver Fox. Logan continued his espionage work, becoming a favorite of both America's and Canada's secret services, even teaming up with Ben Grimm (later known as the Thing) to participate in a Cold War-era government mission. During the 1960s, Logan was placed on the Black Ops squad run by the CIA called Team X with Sabretooth, Maverick, Kestrel, Mastodon, and somehow, Silver Fox. The group was apparently disbanded after a botched mission concerning Omega Red. During their time with the group, Logan and the others had their memories tampered with in order for them to better controlled. This is why Logan would suffer from amnesia (with the exception of false memories) for many years to come. The Weapon X Program Logan was kidnapped by agents of the Weapon X Program, the tenth installment of the Weapon Plus Project. The man known only as the Professor, Dr. Abraham Cornelius, and Carol Hines began to examine Logan while he floated in a containment tank. Logan's bones, including his claws, were bonded with the indestructible metal known as adamantium, making them unbreakable. This adamantium bonding process was apparently stolen by the Weapon X Program from the Japanese scientist known as Lord Dark Wind, the father of Yuriko Oyama (Lady Deathstrike), which is why Yuriko would come to despise Logan in later years. Logan proved too difficult for the Weapon X Program to control and, after many years, he escaped the facility with the help of the Winter Soldier, killing nearly everyone except for the Professor, Cornelius, Hines, and Malcolm Colcord, who later became the Director of a new Weapon X Program. Driven into savagery by the experiment, Logan wandered the forests of the Canadian Rockies for months, living in a feral state, ironically, not far from the place of his birth. It is during this period he saved the life of a creature known as a Hunter in Darkness, one of a race of feral beings apparently mystical in origin. A psychic link of some sort was established between the two, to resurface in later years. On occasion, Logan's human personality surfaces to the extent that, years later, he was able to recall pleasant experiences in these woods. Years after this experience, Logan's memories of much of his past would remain clouded as a result of the Weapon X experiment, and it is possible that he received additional false memories during the procedure as well. Department H Wandering the woods, Logan was eventually discovered by Heather and James "Mac" Hudson, a young couple honeymooning in the Rockies, who helped him regain his humanity (but not his memories). After much persuasion from the couple, he became a member of Canada's Department H. Donning what would become his famous blue and yellow costume for the first time, he was dispatched to halt the destruction caused by a savage fight between the Incredible Hulk and the Wendigo. His speed and maneuverability proved to be a match for the two plodding powerhouses, but after realizing Hulk was a more formidable opponent, he changed tactics. Teaming up with Hulk to take out the Wendigo, Hulk threw the Wendigo into a patch of trees and Wolverine then delivered the finishing blow. The Hulk and Wolverine kept on fighting, with the Hulk emerging victorious. Hulk abandoned the unconscious Wolverine, unaware of his healing factor. The defeated Wolverine returned to Department H. - The X-Men After his encounter with the Hulk, Wolverine was conscripted by Department H to join and lead Alpha Flight, Canada's government-run super team. During his leadership of Alpha Flight, Wolverine was approached by Professor Charles Xavier, who was looking for mutants to help his students, the X-Men, escape from the island-being known as Krakoa. Wolverine left Alpha Flight to accompany Xavier and rescue the captured X-Men. After Krakoa was defeated, Wolverine decided to stay with the X-Men, for reasons which included that he had fallen for Marvel Girl. Logan remained with the X-Men for quite some time, at one time being their field commander, and encountered adversaries such as Proteus, Magneto, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the Brood, the Reavers, demons from the dimension of Limbo, the Marauders, the Morlocks, and even Dracula on one occasion. At first skeptical of the Professor's hope for mutant and human coexistence, he began to respect his ideals and grew to be a loyal and trusted member of the X-Men. He developed strong friendships with Nightcrawler and Colossus, but a rivalry grew between him and Cyclops, one of the reasons being they had both fallen for Marvel Girl. Romantically interested in her, but unable to requite his love, Wolverine later fell in love with and became engaged to Lady Mariko Yashida, heir to an extremely powerful Yakuza family in Tokyo. Wolverine revealed that he was able to fluently speak Japanese, surprising her with the contrast to his often savage exterior . Wolverine later traveled to Japan to confront his ex-mentor, Ogun, along with Kitty Pryde. Years before, Ogun was defeated in combat, and ever since, his malicious spirit has had to find host bodies. Ogun captured Kitty, and Logan used his training to help her overcome his evil, forcing him from her body. Afterwards, Logan and Kitty became very close friends, with her as a near-foster daughter to him. - Wolverine was forced to kill Lady Mariko's father, Lord Shingen, in a duel. Mariko and Logan became estranged due to the honor customs of her family, as well as the manipulations of the villain Mastermind. In a fight between the X-Men and a giant dragon over Tokyo, a young girl's mother was killed. Wolverine took it upon himself to watch over the girl, Amiko, who to this day Logan tries to visit, although she is currently under the care of his close friend and sometimes lover Yuriko. When the X-Men temporarily relocated to the Australian Outback, Wolverine took the runaway mutant Jubilee under his wing, after she saved his life from an attack by Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers. She eventually became like a daughter to him, much like Kitty before. Wolverine also spent a lot of time in the seedy areas of Madripoor, under the false identity of 'Patch'. While based in Australia, a man would ask Wolverine to go to the Savage Land, where he encountered a tribe of humans. Arriving in a lightweight plane, the tribe believed him a god, with the exception of Gahck, the tribe's female chieftain. Gahck challenged Wolverine to combat, and once it was established that he wasn't a god, he offered to help their hunting parties. Logan subsequently started a relationship with Gahck. When members of the tribe were captured, Wolverine discovered that a robotic Tyrannosaurus Rex would attack the tribe and take their members to a secret base. Wolverine discovered that experiments were performed on the tribe members by Apocalypse, and after freeing himself and the captured Gahck, he battled Apocalypse, though it turned out to be a robot. In the Apocalypse robot's lab, Logan learned that Apocalypse was the man who had told him to journey to the Savage Land. Wolverine then left, not realizing that he had fathered a son with Gahck named Erista. After the X-Men returned to America, Wolverine finally returned to the Weapon X base in Canada. There, he inadvertently activated the Shiva program, which was designed to kill rogue Weapon X graduates. Wolverine also became much darker, as he learned many of his memories were implants. Wolverine then finally reunited with Mariko, who had refused to reconcile her love with Logan until her clan was cleansed of all illegal activities. However, almost immediately after they were reunited, she was promptly poisoned by a Yakuza assassin working for Matsu'o, a business man who bore a great grudge against Wolverine. Mariko asked Wolverine to end her life quickly rather than let her die a slow and painful death from the toxin. Wolverine reluctantly complied. This changed Wolverine's character significantly, making him even more disciplined and emotionally distant. Wolverine then vowed to Matsu'o that on each and every one of his birthdays he would slice off a body part until there was nothing of him left. Shortly after Mariko's death, he rejoined his former Team X members Silver Fox, Sabretooth, Maverick, John Wraith, and Mastodon, with Jubilee, and Hines of the Weapon X Program, in hunting down Aldo Ferro a.k.a Vole, a powerful psi-talent who brainwashed many of them for Weapon X. Wolverine was shocked to learn that Silver Fox was still alive. To his surprise, Silver Fox despised him for something she believed he had done. She was subsequently killed by Sabretooth, who was controlled by Ferro, before Wolverine could figure out what she believed he had done. Ferro himself died soon afterward. After his encounter with the mutant assassin Omega Red, Logan began to question the memories he possessed, but his searches to find his true identity and memories proved fruitless. Logan possessed memories of being a Samurai in Japan, a mercenary operative for the CIA, and a "wild man" in the Canadian wilderness. He also had remembered romances with Mariko Yashida and Silverfox. Wolverine suffered a mental breakdown which stemmed from the deaths of Mariko and Silver Fox and Weapon X's mental tampering. Due to extensive memory implants given to Logan through the Weapon X Project, any or all of these memories are suspect. Logan has at least one memory of meeting Captain America in World War II while he was in the Canadian Army which has been verified as true. Magneto's Revenge .]]During an encounter with Magneto on his space station called Avalon, Wolverine slashed Magneto with his claws. Magneto retaliated, using his powers of the magnetic field to tear the adamantium out of Wolverine's skeleton, causing extensive injuries. These injuries shorted out Wolverine's healing factor for a time, and Logan also discovered that the claws that he believed a result of the Weapon X program were in fact part of his actual bone structure due to his mutation. Around this time Professor Xavier, Beast, and Heather Hudson conducted experiments on Wolverine. These showed that Logan's mutation was actually ongoing, and whilst his healing factor and senses would accelerate it would also cost him his humanity- for it would slowly change him into a bestial, wild, animal-like creature. It also turned out that the presence of the adamantium slowed his mutation process down, his healing factor treated it like a foreign substance in the body and tried constantly to expel it. As a result of his injuries, Logan left the X-Men for a time. He visited Muir Island at the request of Kitty Pryde, and was also attacked by Cyber. During the Phalanx invasion, Logan and Cable were asked by Charles Xavier to find and rescue the captured X-Men. They joined with Cyclops and Jean Grey, returning from their honeymoon (and secretly the future), and freed their teammates in Tibet. Later, Logan was kidnapped by Tyler Dayspring, calling himself Genesis, who wanted to make Wolverine one of his new Horsemen. Genesis had acquired adamantium by destroying the body of the mercenary known as Cyber, and had planned to recreate the bonding process used on Logan years ago. This time, however, Logan's body rejected the adamantium, and he regressed for a time to a feral-like state. Logan slowly regained his lucidity and rejoined the X-Men. Horseman of Apocalypse Logan was subsequently kidnapped by the would-be conqueror Apocalypse and forced to fight the savage assassin Sabretooth for the mantle of the Horseman Death. Knowing that he might be able to resist Apocalypse's programming and that Sabretooth would be a very dangerous villain with the support of Apocalypse, Logan fought and defeated his nemesis. As a result, his skeleton again was laced with Adamantium. Under the control of Apocalypse, Wolverine fought the X-Men ferociously in his Death persona. But with the help of his teammates, he eventually broke free from Apocalypse's control. Weapon Plus Later on a mission with the X-Men, Wolverine and Jean were lured onto a Weapon Plus satellite by the villain Xorn. Although Logan was able to access detailed files on his past, they realized it was a trap as it hurtled toward the sun. As the heat slowly began to intensify, Jean could no longer stand the pain and asked Logan to take her life with his claws. Obliging his love's last wish, Jean's death unlocked the power of the Pheonix. Thus empowered, Jean returned Wolverine and herself back to earth as Logan slowly healed. However, as the duo confronted Xorn alongside their fellow X-Men, he injected Jean with a lethal electromagnetic pulse and she died in Cyclops arms. Wolverine greatly mourned Jean's loss and was not pleased with Cyclops' and Emma Frost's new relationship, but he has remained a valued member of the X-Men, serving on as many missions as he can while also indulging in the occasional solo mission. Enemy of the State Wolverine was ambushed by The Hand and Hydra. Transformed into a killing machine and outfitted with several devices, he battled various other heroes. He stabbed both Hornet and Northstar. SHIELD was able to deprogram Logan. The New Avengers While on a mission in the Savage Land, he met the recently reformed Avengers and eventually accepted membership. As a result of the House of M, Wolverine regained all of his memories, finally being able to sort between what was true and implanted. He was last seen traveling to Japan in an attempt to come to terms with his past. He went to visit the Silver Samurai, who serves as a guard to the prime minister of Japan. Wolverine battled with Silver Samurai, cutting his hand in the process. Later, he visited the site of the original Weapon X program, which led to a clash with Captain America regarding a man named Bucky, who apparently killed Wolverine's wife, the Japanese Itsu, and unborn child. Bucky apologized to Wolverine, telling him that he was not in control of his actions at the time. Wolverine then began to reminisce about his wife, a Japanese woman named Itsu, and the events that led up to him meeting her. After WWII, but before he had been given his Adamantium skeleton by Weapon X, Wolverine trained under the martial arts master Ogun. After completing his training, Ogun sent Wolverine to a village where another master, Bando Saburo, taught men who had been made into weapons how to become men once more. There, Wolverine met Itsu and they fell in love, eventually marrying and conceiving a child together. Saburo's village was surrounded by mountains belonging to the demon sword smith Muramasa. After Bucky/Winter Soldier's murder of Itsu, Wolverine, believing it was the people of the village who had killed his pregnant wife, pledged his allegiance to the demon. Muramasa boasted that he would make a sword in honor of Wolverine, one that could defeat even him. Through unknown means, Muramasa began the process, which Weapon X most likely completed, that made Wolverine into a living weapon. What followed remains unclear, but Wolverine apparently returned to North America where he met Silver Fox for the first time. It can then be gathered that following Silver Fox's murder, he was recruited by Team X and then given his adamantium skeleton by Weapon X. After remembering this, Wolverine went back to Muramasa's mountain and reclaimed the Muramasa Blade which belonged to him. Muramasa willingly gave the sword to Wolverine and told him to "wield it like an angry god". Currently, Wolverine wants revenge, and he now remembers who deserves his vengeance. ]] After the destruction of Stamford by the supervillain Nitro, which started the Civil War, Wolverine went after Nitro himself. Although the X-Men were neutral in this conflict, Wolverine, also a member of the New Avengers, led a Shield team to aprehend Nitro. This went badly, with Wolverine as the only survivor, and a conflict with several Atlantean guards, and the king of Atlantis himself, Namor. Nitro was eventually brought to Atlantis, where he lost a hand to Wolverine's adamantium claws. Post Civil War, Wolverine remained with the unregistered New Avengers, and went renegade with the likes of Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Ronin, and Doctor Strange. Daken Emma Frost discovered and told Wolverine that the child he had conceived with Itsu was actually alive. His son, Daken was trained by Cyber. Logan teamed up with Deadpool to find his son, who had many similarities to his father such as aspects of his personality, abilities, and powers. Daken nearly killed Deadpool but was shot by his father with a bullet made of Carbondanium. He told him who was responsible for his mother's death and about his past. Daken sought revenge on his former master, as he killed Cyber and left his dead body for his dad. Logan realized that Daken had been made into a living weapon by the villain Romulus, the man behind his own brainwashing. Wolverine then made it his mission to rescue Daken and stop Romulus from manipulating or harming anyone again. X-Force and X-23 as members of X-Force]] A new X-Force consisting of Wolverine as team leader, Warpath, Wolfsbane and X-23 was born to take care of the dirty business the rest of the X-Men wouldn't do normally, including murder. Their first mission involved infiltrating a North Dakota SHIELD facility to route out a group of Purifiers who had infiltrated the base and stolen valuable technology required to resurrect the Sentinel known as Bastion. In the planned raid Wolfsbane and X-23 disobeyed Wolverine's orders and entered ahead of the team and got Wolfsbane captured. Wolfsbane was later rescued but suffered from a seizure. The Return of Weapon X Logan's former Team X teammate, Maverick, contacted Logan to inform him that a private military contractor called Blackguard had got their hands on the old Weapon X files, including the recipe for synthesizing adamantium, and created a group of twelve mercenaries called Strikeforce X, an elite unite of men armed with healing factors, unbreakable skeletons and laser claws. Not only that, but they were being used to carry out atrocities in the name of Blackguard's corporate interests. With the help of reporter Melita Garner, Logan was able to expose Blackguard to the world and kill most of Strikeforce X, but the Chief Executive somehow managed to survive. What Logan didn't know was that Maverick was the man who stole the Weapon X files in the first place and sold them on the black market. In an effort to cover up his involvement in kick-starting the Strikeforce X program from Wolverine, Maverick killed the man whom he sold the files to. The Asylum Later, Wolverine found himself in Dunwitch Sanatorium in a foggy haze with a hospital full of misfits and few memories of a past that seemed to point to the fact that he was insane. A fellow patient warned him that the director, Dr. Rottwell, has a penchant for harvesting brains; which seemed to be proven out when, the very next day, Logan discovered that the patient has been lobotomized. Logan lost his identity in an insane asylum and Dr. Rottwell tried to get him to release the aggressive killer inside of him while still sublimating the rest of his past. A pair of mob goons came looking for someone to pull off a contract killing and Dr. Rottwell offers them Charlie Chainsaws from whom he has removed his hands and attached actual chainsaws; as Logan reached the end of his tolerance for abuse and torture, he finally popped his claws and took out an orderly while Rottwell looked on and smiled. Unable to warp Logan's mind into becoming a feral killer using conventional brainwashing, Dr. Rottwell decided to take the direct approach by cutting directly into his skull. When Rotwell kept wrecking blades on adamantium, he plugged Wolverine into his innovative God Brain machine to get some readings. Logan was able to make a mental cry for help to reporter Melita Garner (the very same journalist who helped him expose blackguard) before the machine takes full effect. Melita received the desperate psychic message from Wolverine and called in the X-Men to help; Nightcrawler and Psylocke invaded Dunwitch Sanatorium and dismantled Rotwell's God Brain machine. The mob later showed up looking for their missing goons; with chaos abounding as the mob, the patients and the staff all try their best to kill each other, Logan took the opportunity to try and carve up Dr. Rottwell but finds his tormentor impossible to kill; Rottwell then escaped as Wolverine made his way to Melita to recuperate. As his relationship with Melita blossomed into something more, Logan received relationship advice from the women in his life; He tried to warn Melita away from him because of his lifestyle and his past history with women who end up dead but she simply replied that she can handle it. Mystique finds out about the affair. The Terminators Wolverine took Steve Rogers to a bar to celebrate his resurrection. However, they were attacked by Deathloks. In the present, Miranda tells Wolverine that the Deathlok cyborgs from the future have killed all of their targets except for one: Captain America. Wolverine and Cap battle the Deathloks. In a dystopian future; an aged and damaged Wolverine helps Miranda and her troops try to destroy the Deathlok's time portal. Personality Wolverine is a gruff warrior-poet and has a strong sense of personal honor. Wolverine also established himself quickly as the X-Man most willing to permanently deal with their adversaries; "I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do best isn't very nice." He developed close friendships with his teammates Nightcrawler, whose personality diametrically opposed Wolverine's, and Colossus, who often performed the "fastball special" with him. He is something of a father figure to Natasha Romanoff, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, X-23, and Jubilee. He loved many women, including Rose, Itsu, Viper, Silver Fox, Jean Grey, and Mariko Yashida. | Powers = *'Regenerative Healing Factor:' Wolverine's primary mutant power is an accelerated healing process that enables him to regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue with far greater efficiency than an ordinary human. Wolverine's accelerated healing powers have been commonly referred to as his mutant healing factor. The full extent and speed of Wolverine's healing factor isn't known. He has been shown to fully heal from numerous gunshot wounds (Feb. 2003), severe burns covering most of his body (Sept. 1996), and regenerate missing eyes (Feb. 2004) within a matter of seconds. Among the more extreme depictions of his accelerated healing factor involves him having his skin, muscles, and internal organs incinerated from his skeleton only to fully regenerate the tissue within minutes. Adamantium plays a crucial role in the speed of Wolverine's healing as well because of the fact that it produces a poison that his immune system fights off regularly. It is said that without the adamantium his healing rate increases. - This power even amends psychological wounds inflicted as a result of traumatic experiences. However, Wolverine's healing powers force his mind to suppress the memories, sometimes resulting in amnesia. Wolverine sometimes calls this his mental scar tissue. *'Foreign Chemical Immunity:' Wolverine's natural healing also affords him the virtual immunity to poisons and most drugs, except in massive doses. For example, it is extremely difficult for him to become intoxicated from alcohol. *'Immunity To Disease:' Wolverine's highly efficient immune system, which is part of his accelerated healing factor, renders him immune against all known Earthly diseases and infections. *'Superhumanly Acute Senses:' Wolverine possesses superhumanly acute senses that are comparable to those of certain animals. He can see at far greater distances, with perfect clarity, than an ordinary human. He retains this same level of clarity even in near total darkness. His hearing is enhanced in a similar manner, allowing him to detect sounds ordinary humans couldn't hear at a greater distances. He is able to recognize people and objects by scent, even if they are well hidden. He can track a target by scent, even if the scent has been greatly eroded by time and weather factors, with an extraordinary degree of success. Wolverine can also use his keen sense of smell to detect lies due to chemical changes within a person's scent. These senses stem from, at least partially, his constant cellular regeneration, as are his enhanced physical capabilities. *'Superhuman Strength:' Wolverine's mutant healing factor enables him to push his muscles beyond the natural limits of the human body without injury, granting him some degree of superhuman strength. His natural strength is augmented by the demand placed on his musculature due to the presence of over 100 pounds of Adamantium bonded to his skeleton, which also removes the natural limitations of the human skeletal structure by allowing him to lift weights that would damage a human skeleton. Wolverine has been depicted with sufficient strength to break steel chains, support the weight of a dozen men with one arm and lift the 955 lb Ursa Major over his head before tossing him across a room. Wolverine's strength is enough to allow him to press somewhere in excess of 800 lbs but no more than 2 tons. *'Superhuman Stamina:' Wolverine's mutant healing factor grants him high immunity against lactic acid and other fatigue toxins generated by his muscles during physical activity. Wolverine can sustain himself at peak capacity for several days. Wolverine has shown himself capable of fighting Omega Red for over 18 hours, despite regular exposure to Omega Red's death spores. *'Superhuman Agility:' Wolverine's agility, balance and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels beyond the natural physical limits and capabilities of the finest human specimen. Wolverine's agility is sufficient to allow him to dodge Cyclops' optic blasts at near point blank range. Other times able to jump extremely high and evade several yards. *'Superhuman Reflexes:' Wolverine's reflexes are similarly enhanced and are superior to those possessed by the finest human specimen. *'Insulated Weather Adaptation:' Wolverine's body is highly resistant to certain elemental extremes, particularly cold, to the extent that he can sleep nude in subarctic conditions with no apparent injury. *'Retarded Aging:' In addition, Wolverine's healing factor provides him with an extended lifespan by slowing the effects of the aging process. Wolverine was born sometime in the late 19th Century. '' mini-series Although well over 100 years of age, Wolverine retains the appearance and physical vitality of a man in the physical prime of his life. *'Animal Empathy:' Wolverine has the ability to sense the emotional state of animals on a basic level such as fear, anger, happiness or pain. He can even communicate with them to make the animal aware of his actions and or his intent. *'Bone Claws:' Wolverine's skeleton includes six retractable 12-inch long bone claws, three in each arm, that are housed beneath the skin and muscle of his forearms. Wolverine can, at will, release these slightly curved claws through his skin beneath the knuckles on each hand. The skin between the knuckles tears and bleeds, but the blood loss is quickly halted by his healing factor. Wolverine can unsheathe any number of his claws at once, although he must keep his wrists straight at the moment his claws pass from his forearms into his hands. When unsheathed, the claws are entirely within his hands, allowing him to bend his wrists when they are extended. The claws are made of bone, unlike the claws of normal mammals which are made of keratin, and were originally believed to be bionic adamantium implants. The bone claws are sharp and dense enough to slice through substances as durable as most metals, wood, and stone. *'Psionic Resistance:' Wolverine reveals that his mind is highly resistant to telepathic probing and assault due to the high level psionic shields implanted in his mind by Professor Charles Xavier. | Abilities = Master Tactician: Though seemingly brutish, Wolverine is highly intelligent. When Forge monitored Wolverine's vitals during a Danger Room training session, he reported Logan's physical and mental state as "equivalent to an Olympic-level gymnast performing a Gold-medal-winning routine whilst simultaneously beating four chess computers in his head", which gives something of an idea of the level of sophistication and tactical processing Logan is capable of utilizing while in combat. He remembers Ogun teaching him Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Master Martial Artist: Wolverine has extraordinary hand-to-hand combat ability, and, alongside Captain America and Taskmaster, is considered one of the finest combatants on Earth. Due to his extensive training as a soldier, a CIA operative, a samurai, a spy, and a member of the X-Men, Wolverine is an exceptional hand-to-hand combatant, having mastered virtually every fighting style on Earth and is also well versed in pressure points and the art of espionage. He studied the samurai arts from a man who met the famed 17th century samurai Miyamoto Musashi, Ogun. Advanced Covert Ops Expert: Due to his experience traveling the world and working for various government agencies, Wolverine is also a trained expert in multiple types of weapons, vehicles, computer systems, explosives, and assassination techniques. Skilled Mechanic: Along with Nightcrawler, Wolverine has also been the mechanic of the X-Men's Blackbird jet for a long time. Multi-lingual: A polyglot; Wolverine is fluent in many languages including English, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Cheyenne, Lakota, and Spanish; he has some knowledge of French, German, Thai, Vietnamese, and Portuguese. Ogun taught him Japanese ideograms. With his increased lifespan and journeys across the globe, he has been able to amass an intimate knowledge of many foreign customs and cultures. Once he saw a kabuki play of The 47 Ronin (Genroku Ch?shingura) and remarked how it was one of the finest kabuki troupes he had seen. His exploits have further endowed him with vast awareness of literature and philosophy. | Strength = As a result of Wolverine's constant cellular regeneration and the additional weight and tensile strength of his skeleton he has some degree of superhuman strength enabling him to press somewhere in excess of 800 lbs but not more than 2 tons. The latest official handbook entry says that Wolverine is capable of lifting in excess of 800 lbs for brief periods due to his adamantium skeleton . WOLVERINE: WEAPON X FILES | Weaknesses = * Muramasa Blade: Wolverine's only specific vulnerability known to date. Created by having his soul infused into the katana, the efficiency of his mutant healing factor is decreased dramatically if he sustains injury from the Muramasa Blade. Wolverine has been wounded once with the blade (Sep. 2006) and, though the injury was very minor, it did not heal completely for several days. (Nov. 2006) * Carbonadium Digestion: Wolverine's healing factor is also affected, though to a far less degree, if he ingests Carbonadium. *Wolverine's only other "weakness" is the fact that his heightened senses can be take advantage of. For instance, when he was fighting the Hulk, he was nearly killed by the Hulk's sonic claps due to his heightened sense of hearing. * Decapitation/Severe Spinal Damage: Professor X once stated that Wolverine could be killed if his head becomes separated from his body, causing his brain the inability to send signals to the section(s) of his body that needs healing. But because of the addition of his adamantium-laced skeleton, the idea seems very unlikely. '' (Dec. 2006) * Adamantium Poisoning: Adamantium has proven to secrete poison which stunts Wolverine's healing factor and feral rage by a very small degree. Even though he has it laced throughout his entire body it has not made a significant change in his abilities. * Admantium Allotropes: Adamantium has thirteen different allotropes (variants) that are very unstable compared to adamantium because of their different molecular configurations and thus physical properties. Some have caused Wolverine to become dizzy or weak just by being in close contact with these adamantium specimens. | Equipment = As Death, Logan was given an armor to wear to conceal his true identity. Normally he wears a standard X-Men uniform or street clothes. His gloves often have grooves in the forearm so they do not tear when he unsheathes his claws. * Adamantium Laced Skeleton: Not part of Wolverine's natural mutant attributes, Wolverine's entire skeleton, including his bone claws, are laced with the rare, artificial, and virtually indestructible alloy known as Adamantium or True Adamantium. As a result, Wolverine's bones are virtually unbreakable. The presence of the Adamantium has further enhanced the already razor sharp edge of Wolverine's bone claws. Aside from being practically indestructible, the claws are capable of cutting any solid material, with the known exception of True Adamantium and Proto-Admantium (Captain America's shield.) However, Wolverine's ability to slice completely through a substance depends upon the thickness of the substance and the amount of force he can exert. The Adamantium also weights his blows, dramatically increasing the effectiveness of his punches and kicks. * ' Adamantium Beta:' The only known occurence of Adamantium Beta was during the Weapon X Project. By the second part of the procedure when they laced his bones with Adamantium there was a reaction with his healing factor that bonded metal and bone. As a result the Adamantium "heals" just as his bones do. | Transportation = Wolverine commonly uses a motorcycle when he is acting as a solo agent. He has access to the X-Men Blackbird whilst with the team. | Weapons = Throughout his life, Wolverine has used a variety of bladed weapons, most frequently daggers and, at times, swords; as a samurai, he is especially skilled with the katana. He has also wielded many different types of firearms throughout his careers as a soldier, a mercenary, and a spy. While he is highly skilled with firearms, he has stated on multiple occasions that he isn't fond of them and prefers to use bladed weapons. He has been shortly carrying the Muramasa, but, in , he passed it to Cyclops, so he could use it against him, should there be no other way of stopping Logan. | Trivia = *In the [http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Transformers_%282007%29 2007 Transformers movie], a scratched wall makes someone say "Freddy Krueger ruined the place". Then, Glen Whitmann (Anthony Anderson), said: "Freddy Krueger had four claws, and it's three. It's Wolverine!!!". Wolverine would later interact with Transformers in New Avengers Transformers 1. *Work in adamantium bonding was also done by American scientist Dr. Ronald Rankin, whose son Calvin would, years later, develop superhuman powers and become known as the Mimic. Whether or not Rankin was directly involved in the experiment upon Logan is unknown. Years later, upon being confronted by his fellow X-Man Archangel after the latter has been surgically altered by the immortal mutant Apocalypse, Logan will sense something "familiar---pain" in Archangel's scent, suggesting that technology created by Apocalypse was also involved in Logan's own transformation; curiously, Logan sensed no such familiarity when visiting a lair of Apocalypse himself, and a later allegation that Apocalypse was directly responsible for Wolverine's transformation appears to be misinformation. At this time the Weapon X Program is supposedly a joint US/Canadian operation, although some evidence indicates that it is being manipulated by an outside source, apparently the same individual who chose Logan as a subject. *Wolverine was originally intended to be a real wolverine, artificially evolved by the High Evolutionary. However, in 1976, Marvel rushed the character Spider-Woman into publication, and unable to come up with an origin in such a short time, used the origin they'd put aside for Wolverine (with the animal changed to a spider, obviously). This left Wolverine without an origin story for a number of years. *Wolverine was intended to be a teenager by co-creator Len Wein but that idea was dropped. *It was originally intended for Wolverine's Adamantium claws to be part of his gloves rather than part of his body. During his first full appearance in Incredible Hulk #181, the claws were shown as flat, straight, double-edged blades that were never extracted or retracted. This idea was changed by Chris Claremont because he felt that by not having the claws as part of his anatomy, then anyone could be Wolverine by simply putting on the gloves. *During Wolverine's first appearance, in Incredible Hulk vol. 1 #181, Wolverine's height it said to be 5'5". Wolverine's height is later retconned to 5'3" in his first writeup in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol 1 #13. * Wolverine made a cameo appearance in the pages of DC's JLA #1. In the scene, Wolverine and Doctor Doom are executed by a super-villain team known as the Hyperclan. Click here to see the image. *In the 1994 video game Wolverine: Adamantium Rage, Wolverine's height is incorrectly listed at 5'7" in a brief character bio the game provides for the primary characters. * A version of Wolverine appears in every X-Men Cartoon and Video Game ever made. *Marvel had a large number of fans in Canada and thought it would be a smart decision to create the first Canadian hero for Marvel. Thus the basis for Wolverine was created. *In the comic magazine, "Wizard", of their top 200 heroes, Wolverine was number 1. . | Links = *Adamantium * http://www.marvel.com/universe/Wolverine_%28James_Howlett%29 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine_(comics) * Marvel Directory * OHOTMU Master Edition (Vol 3) #4, 1991 ,MARVEL COMICS GROUP © * OHOTMU WOLVERINE 2004, MARVEL COMICS GROUP © | OtherMedia = * Wolverine in "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" * Wolverine in "Pryde of the X-Men" * Wolverine in "X-Men: The Animated Series" * Wolverine in "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" * Wolverine in "X-Men: Evolution" * Wolverine in "Wolverine and the X-Men" * Wolverine in the X-Men films, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: The Official Game, X2: Wolverine's Revenge * Wolverine in "X-Men Legends" and "X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse" * Wolverine in "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" Toys *'Yellow and Black' Little is known of his past, save that it was fraught with pain and loss. Long ago, he trained as a samurai in Japan; later, he became Weapon X, an operative for the Canadian government. Today, Logan is an X-Man - using his animal-keen senses, healing factor and razor-sharp claws to help protect a world that fears and hates mutants! Wolverine is blessed with animal-keen senses that enable him to track people and objects with an impressive degree of success. In addition, his accelerated healing factor allows him to survive wounds that would prove fatal to most humans and mutants.~ ~From Marvel Legends packaging ~Variant: Unmasked *'Brown and Gold' Little is known of his past. Long ago, he trained as a samurai in Japan; later, he became Weapon X, and operative for the Canadian government. Today, Logan is an X-Man - using his animal-keen senses, healing factor and razor-sharp claws to help protect a world that fears and hates mutants! Wolverine's senses enable him to track people and objects with an impressive degree of success. His accelerated healing factor allows him to survive wounds that would prove fatal to most humans and mutants. Wolverine's skeleton has been bonded with the indestructible metal Adamantium. Also, he possesses Adamantium-laced, retractable claws housed in his forearms. At will, he can release them through the skin on the back of each hand.~ ~From Marvel Legends packaging ~Ogun pack-in *'Weapon X' In the late 20th century, the CIA, working through the Canadian government, forced Wolverine to participate in a diabolical experiment called Weapon X in which scientists grafted the indestructible metal Adamantium to his skeleton and claws. Even worse, they implanted memory devices that shaped a new, convoluted past - one more suitable to their needs than his. Because of their experiments, Wolverine can no longer separate fact from fiction and knows little of his own true past other than that it was filled with pain and loss. While Wolverine worked as an operative for the government, Professor X asked him to join the X-Men. Wolverine agreed to join Professor X because he truly believed in Professor X's vision and dream of peaceful coexistence between man and mutant. ~From ML packaging ~Interchangable: Head *'Astonishing' Little is known about the man known as Logan whose past remains shrouded in mystery. The feral warrior, code-named Wolverine, possesses genetically endowed animal-keen senses of smell, sight, and hearing, as well as a mutant healing factor that can mend almost any wound. His deadliest weapons are his razor-sharp claws and skeleton both made of unbreakable metal alloy called adamantium. However, with these abilities comes a curse, a beserker rage that he must forever struggle to control. Now Logan must contain the beast raging within while he battles to protect a world that fears and hates him. ~From ML packaging ~Variant: unmasked ~comes with Apocalypse piece | Quote = I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice. | Speaker = Wolverine | Notes = Enemies *Roughouse *Sabretooth *Apocalypse *Bloodscream *Cyber *Damage Control *Sentinels *Silver Samurai *Dark Riders *Deadpool *Genesis *Hand *Hellfire Club *Hulk *HYDRA *Lady Deathstrike *Magneto *Mister X *Nitro *Ogun *Viper *Weapon X (Team) *Omega Red *Wendigo *Punisher *Rapture *Reavers *Romulus Love Interests * Atsuko * Black Cat * Elektra Natchios * Itsu * Jean Grey * Mariko Yashida * Rogue * Silverfox * Storm * Viper * Rose * Mystique }} hu:James Howlett (616) Category:X-Men members Category:New Avengers members Category:Horsemen of Apocalypse Category:Clan Yashida members Category:Secret Defenders members Category:Department H Category:Alpha Flight members Category:Department K Category:Superhuman Senses Category:Night Vision Category:Hyperosmia Category:Hyperacusia Category:Regeneration Category:Superhuman Stamina Category:Superhuman Strength Category:Superhuman Agility Category:Superhuman Reflexes Category:Claws Category:Defenders members Category:Fantastic Four reserve members Category:198 Mutants Category:The Flight Category:Telepathic Immunity Category:Toxic Immunity Category:Howlett Family Category:Mechanics Category:Martial Arts Category:Espionage Category:Piloting Category:Fencing Category:Multilingual Category:Adamantium Category:WWII Characters